Admission

Carolina Friends School is a vibrant and inclusive learning community empowering students to think critically, creatively, and independently. Explore how your family can become part of our community of learners.

Community

At Carolina Friends School, community is formed and found in ways both big and small. Personal relationships are at the core of our work, and we greatly value the connection of our family and staff as well as our partnerships in the broader community.

Support CFS

Carolina Friends School has relied on the enthusiasm and gifts of its supporters and community members from its founding. Discover how you can further our mission and impact current and future students.

Admission

Carolina Friends School is a vibrant and inclusive learning community empowering students to think critically, creatively, and independently. Explore how your family can become part of our community of learners.

Community

At Carolina Friends School, community is formed and found in ways both big and small. Personal relationships are at the core of our work, and we greatly value the connection of our family and staff as well as our partnerships in the broader community.

Support CFS

Carolina Friends School has relied on the enthusiasm and gifts of its supporters and community members from its founding. Discover how you can further our mission and impact current and future students.

Student Support in the Upper School

In the Upper School, students with identified learning differences or special needs will have an introductory meeting during the fall term with Deepa Bhatt-Mackin, who serves as Upper School Guidance Counselor and Learning Specialist, as well as the student’s relevant teachers, advisor, Head Teacher, and/or Dean for Students. The purpose of this joint meeting is to clarify needs as they relate to the Upper School program and how we might best meet those needs.

For those students rising from the Middle School who already possess an Accommodations Plan, this plan will be taken into account and adjusted as necessary to reflect the changing needs and opportunities of the Upper School.

For students without an Accommodations Plan, recommendations for a formal psycho-educational evaluation will be made, and the Upper School Guidance Counselor/Learning Specialist will write a plan based on evaluation results.

In either case, all plans will have the additional elements of standardized and college entrance exam accommodation allowances within those formalized testing structures. For example, a student who has been recommended to have 100% extended time for in-class test taking will have the same amount listed in the “standardized testing” section of the Accommodations Plan, to the extent that it is available for tests such as the ACT and SAT. There is an additional application process for standardized testing accommodations that parents must initiate.

While the Upper School endeavors to provide accommodations within the daily classroom as needed (sometimes without formal psycho-educational evaluations in place but with recommendations from teachers) formal psycho-educational testing is nevertheless required from a licensed Ph.D psychologist in order to list and grant standardized testing accommodations for college entrance exams.

Accommodations that might be considered, within limits, include:

preferential seating

checking of assignment books and advance notice of some assignments

use of a calculator

use of a word processor for writing assignments

opportunity to use another student’s notes or teacher’s notes if available

permission to record a class

ability to use audiobooks

modification of assignments or due dates, possibly including alternate texts or demonstrations of competence

extended time or alternate location for tests

behavioral contracts

Examples of accommodations that have been granted for standardized testing have included the following options:

extended time (between 50-100%)

separate setting

multiple sessions

dictation to scribe

use of assistive technology

The School now has contracts with a number of academic tutors and coaches who work on campus with teachers and students with identified learning differences and ADHD. The additional cost of these services is the parents’ responsibility.

Additionally, the School Counselor/Learning Specialist occasionally provides supportive counseling (as distinct from therapy) to students on an individual and/or group basis. The purpose of this counseling is to help the student regulate emotional experiences within the course of the school day in order to return to the classroom with an enhanced ability to resume school work. In other cases, students simply want assistance with test and performance anxiety, coping strategies, generalized anxiety, low grade depression, and a host of other issues.

Confidentiality is respected and maintained, and referrals for external therapy are made according to the student’s and/or family’s requests.

Meet the Upper School Learning Specialist

Deepa joined CFS in 2015 as the Upper School Guidance Counselor and Learning Specialist. She graduated with a B.A. in Psychology from Wellesley College, and a Master’s in Counseling Psychology from Northwestern University. She has spent over 15 years working with children and families in a variety of settings, including schools, community counseling agencies, and a private psychotherapy practice. Most recently, she worked as the Acting Director of Family Preschool. She lives in Durham with her husband and two young children.

Student Success Program

Carolina Friends School contracts with professional tutors and coaches to provide services to our students on our campus both during the school day and after school. Student Success staff members have had background checks and are experienced in their respective fields.

Carolina Friends School

Carolina Friends School is a vibrant and inclusive learning community empowering students to think critically, creatively, and independently. We foster active exploration and quiet reflection, individual endeavor and collaborative engagement. Inspired by Quaker values — pursuit of truth, respect for all, peaceful resolution of conflict, simplicity, the call to service — we teach our children that it is possible to change the world.